The feast was stupendous and the food divine. Taylor ate until a single more bite would make her explode like a surprise pinãta. She pushed her plates away, regretting her life choices. Sneakily, she pocketed a few bits to feed her friends.
That was when the food disappeared and the desserts took their places.
There was a loud cheer around the room.
Taylor slumped and let out a muffled groan-slash-sob.
By her side, Luna had an understanding look in her eyes. She patted Taylor’s hand gently, then dove in to eat the desserts Taylor couldn’t physically eat. She did the next best thing: she paid attention to every micro expression and noise coming out of her friend. Luna bit on an exquisite small tart and let out a happy thrill. Eating desserts vicariously through others was a valid strategy, right?
When the feast ended, the Headmaster stood once more, with the new school year announcements. He probably spoke of many important things, but leaden by food and sleep, Taylor barely heard any. The only thing she took from the whole speech was there was a new defense against the dark arts professor, Gilderoy Lockhart. It took longer than Taylor would ever admit to place the name. She’d read his books thrice, they were amazing fantasy.
Then the welcoming feast was over and older students began moving and guiding the first years towards their common rooms. Their guide this time was a blonde witch with straight hair. Her name was Penelope Clearwater, or Penny if the name sounded too long.
Taylor shambled after Penny doing her best to pay attention to the directions. Her attention was stretched thin. Between the food induced sleepiness, the many moving pictures and stairs, the corridors with full suits of armors and more things to see and explore than Taylor could shake her stick at, it felt like a blink of an eye and they were in front of a door without a doorknob or keyhole.
“To enter, you have to answer a riddle,” Penny was saying.
The bronze eagle on the door moved, and from its beak a voice came. “I have cities, but no houses live there. I have mountains, but no trees grow there. I have water, but no fish swim there. I have roads, but no cars travel there. What am I?”
“A map,” Penny said without wasting a moment.
The door opened and on the other side was a wide, circular room with graceful arched windows that punctuated the walls which were hung with blue and bronze silks and a midnight blue carpet covered in stars, which was reflected onto the domed ceiling. The room was furnished with blue tables, chairs, and a divan. Next to the door leading up stood a tall statue of a woman made of white marble.
The gaggle of kids trailed inside after the prefect. She pointed at the marble statue first. “That’s Rowena Ravenclaw, our house founder.” Without waiting, Penny led them towards the door and the stairs leading up. “Boys on the left, girls on the right.” She said pointing at the bifurcated passage at the top of the stairs. “Boys aren’t allowed on girl’s dorms. Do not try it.”
Too tired to argue, Taylor followed Luna into a room with four other beds.
The four-poster beds were covered in sky blue silk on platforms and the sound of the wind whistling around the windows was very relaxing. A wall was decorated with the Ravenclaw crest and the windows had blue curtains. There was also a desk and a shelf for books. On the floor in the center of the room was a carpet, also decorated with Ravenclaw’s eagle.
Taylor found her bed easily enough. Her trunk was by the bed, but more importantly, Nap was already clawing at the bars of her cage. She hadn’t realised it before but the cage seemed awfully small for her pet.
“Here girl,” Taylor said, throwing the door open and letting the owl squeeze out. Nap hadn’t had time to make her displeasure known when Taylor presented the bird with offerings. That appeased the feathery royalty. She let out a contented hoot, flapped her wings and settled on Taylor’s head.
On the other side of the room girls watched all of that in bemused silence. Luna was nodding sagely, and deftly offering her own tributes. Of the other dorm mates, one had long luxurious black hair and brown eyes. She pulled something out of her pockets and offered it too. Her name was Mira something. Taylor couldn’t quite remember from the sorting.
The other one, a brunette with a pixie cut, was staring wide-eyed at Nap. “That’s…”
Taylor nodded, proud of her owl. “That’s Nap, she’s a sweetheart.”
The fourth girl gulped audibly. Her eyes were still fixed on the owl. “What species is she?”
Taylor tilted her head, looking with narrowed eyes at the fourth girl. She remembered the name now. Harriet Vane. She wondered if that name was because of the magic-baby hero or something. “She’s just a barn owl.”
“That isn’t—” Harriet started, then Luna slapped a hand over her mouth.
“It’s just a barn owl,” she said dreamily.
There was a hushed discussion among her three dorm mates. Taylor sneaked her way toward the windows and discreetly distributed the rest of the food for her other pets.
She got out of her school robes and into her pj’s. Unrepentantly, they were still pink, still care bears. A quick visit to the bathroom to brush her teeth and empty her bladder, she was ready for bed. Only, she couldn’t go to sleep yet.
The others had already settled down to sleep. With the help of a faint lumos charm, Taylor picked up a sheet of white paper and a pencil from her trunk. She sat at the desk, then related all the day's events in a letter to her mum: the castle, the boat, the train, the new friends and all the gossip she heard. It ended up being a full seven pages long. All the excitement of the day and night had put away thoughts of home, but here and now, she never felt more alone. That might have coloured her letter just a little, not to mention the smudge over a few of the lines. There was some infiltration in the room; someone should really look into that.
The others were already asleep when Taylor finished. She took Nap from the spot on her head and offered the sealed envelope.
“That’s for mum. Can you deliver it for me?” she whispered to the owl, “I know it’s late and you’re probably tired, but it would mean a lot to me.”
Nap hooted, grabbed the envelope in her beak. Taylor walked to the windows and cracked one open. Nap flapped her wings and flew away. She watched the owl disappear in the distance, then crawled into bed.
Sleep, however, wouldn’t come.
The more time passed, the more she missed home and mum. She didn’t remember a time she slept this far from her mum. There weren’t any sleepovers with friends at school, or pajama parties she’d ever been invited to.
Taylor stuffed her face onto the pillow, trying to muffle sobs that wouldn't stop. She didn’t notice the intruder until the bed creaked and gentle arms wrapped around her from behind.
“It’s okay. I know.” Luna’s voice was like an eerie whisper in her ears.
Taylor grabbed at the arms around her, sniffled again and tried to shut up. It didn’t work that well, but at some point, she fell asleep.
That night, Taylor dreamed of the Brunette again. She was dressed in her strangely fitting dark grey clothes — black widow spider-silk a part of her mind whispered — holding a strange futuristic spear that buzzed at the pointy end. Around her, the city was in ruins. Nearby some sort of bunker was partially flooded, with people scrambling and yelling and dying in agonizing ways. The brunette stood drenched, her curly black hair plastered over her masked face, yellow lenses creepy in the gloom. A creature of legends and hell stood in front of her. It was taller than a building, four asymmetric eyes in a noseless and mouthless face. It was picking its way around the few survivors of the bunker, killing indiscriminately. Taylor poked the monster at the base of the tail with her futuristic spear.
She woke up gasping in pain and trapped under unfamiliar arms.
There was a moment of building terror, then she remembered. Hogwarts, the dormitory, Luna.
Taylor must’ve turned during the night, because she was facing her friend. The blonde blinked one sleepy silvery eye open.
“It’s alright. It’s only dreams.”
Taylor’s throat bobbed, but she couldn’t find the words. What did Luna know? Had she said anything while sleeping?
Luna didn’t elaborate, and Taylor was too scared to ask.
Morning routine pushed any awkwardness out of the way. In what felt like no time at all, Taylor was dressed in her school robes (the other two sets had changed colors as well), and followed the crowd back towards the main hall for breakfast.
The great hall ceiling was cloudy today and the tables were laden with tureens of porridge, plates of keepers, mountains of toast and dishes of eggs and bacon.
Taylor sat again near Luna. Having learned from the night prior, she ate moderately. Mid breakfast, she had her first dose of Wizarding mail. A trove of owls, Nap included, barged onto the great hall from the windows; each flew toward a student.
Nap flew straight to Taylor, flapping her big wings to arrest momentum. She landed on Taylor’s head, and dropped a letter on her lap. It was from her mum. She’d just put the letter inside the pockets of her vest, planning to read it later in the privacy of her room, when, from the Gryffindor’s table, a strident voice, loud enough to shake the plates and dislodge dust from the invisible ceiling, blared out.
“… STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY’D EXPELLED YOU…”
The voice, Taylor could even imagine the owner, a matronly witch, went on and on.
“… DIDN’T BRING YOU UP LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED…”
Taylor blinked owlish in sync with Nap, craning her neck to look at the Gryffindor table. There was another redheaded Weasley, sitting near a dark haired boy and a bushy haired brunette. Even from a distance, Taylor could see Ginny staring intently at the boy with green eyes and strange scar in the forehead. That was, without a doubt, the magic-baby-hero Harry. It was nice to put faces to names.
From the sounds of the yelling (a howler, Luna happily supplied), Harry hadn’t sent an owl to school but decided to steal a magic car and fly it when they missed the train. On the one hand, that was stupid. On the other, Taylor felt cheated for not being able to do the same. Invisible flying cars, she wanted one. It made sense why he didn’t go with the boring choice of telling the adults. Flying cars were a lot more wicked.
To make sure she didn’t miss anything, Taylor decided to tag the group with a few flies each. She offered a few treats to Nap, who happily gobbled them up, then nestled comfortably still on top of her head.
Among all the excitement, a small man with a luxurious mustache and carefully coiffed hair distributed class schedules. The man reminded her of a goblin, but she kept that one to herself, she wasn’t sure if it was normal to point that out.
The small man, Professor Flitwick, as it turned out, was the head of Ravenclaw house. He greeted all of the new students personally. He already knew all the names. He taught charms and seemed static to start teaching them.
After breakfast, she looked at her schedule. Her first class was potions somewhere in the dungeons. It was still half an hour away, but Taylor had no idea where the classroom was.
“We should go,” she said to Luna. “It’s better to be early than late.”
Luna smiled and nodded. “Potions! Do you think the professor will teach us how to cheat death?”
Taylor shrugged. A quick glance at the professor’s table let her see the dour looking man with greasy hair and black robes. He didn’t seem like someone to be messed with.
“Maybe,” Taylor said, dragging Luna with her to grab school supplies and then search for the classroom.